Method of forming rail-bonds, &amp;c.



Y No. 880,271. PATENTED FEB. 25, 19Q8.

E. M. BOURNONVIL'L-E. METHOD 0F PORMING RAIL BONDS, 6m.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20. 1907.

mik/Wwe@ EUGENEM, BoUaNoNvILLn, or JERSEY CITY, Nnw'grnasnv.

`Mannion or mamme nant-Bonne, ac.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented ren. 2e, ieee pplcation tiled September 20 1907. Serial No. 393,783.

To all whom 'it may coincer/lt:

p Be it known that I, EUGENE M BoURNoN- VILLE, a citizen of the United States, residingat Jersey City, Hudson county, New Jersey,w

have invented certain new and useful lmproveinents in Methods of Forming Raih,

Bonds, &c., of `which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My iuvention relates to a new method of alectrically uniting or bonding rails and the ike. f The object of the invention is to provide a substantially homogeneous connection between the ends of two separate rails or the like without the use of bolts or rivets or other mechanical fastenings.

Heretofore rail bonds have been aixed by bolting, riveting or soldering. ln every instance crystallization very soon attacks such connection and in a short time renders 1t inefficient or totally ineective. By my method of bondin the metals of 4the rails and bonds are un led by a new process and the connections made homogeneous and permanent.

To illustrate accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view conventionally rep resentin the ends oiA two separate rails with my bond appliedl thereto. Fig. 2/is a side elevation thereof.

Ap-A" represent the rail ends.

B-represents a bpnd such as l propose to use in practicing a preferred form of my invention.- This ond B of the shape and length indicated between the` dotted lines -x and 'y-y. This part may of course be of any desired construction, but is preferably made up of a numben of lflat strips arranged side by side, bent as indicated in Fig. l to allow for ei'pansion'` and( contraction, and secured at their ends.

' A preferred process oi uniting `the rail bond comprises, ltiret-heating the rail, for en: ample by'an oxyacetylene gas flame, to a point say just inside oi the meltingpoint. i'

then 'place the bond upon the rail and permit vthe rayof the flame to heat the end thereof.

At a point between the end of the bond and the burner, and in a more intensely hot part of the lame l then introduce the end of a metallic rod for example of the same material as the bond (ordinarily copper), and subiect it to the heat of the name until someof the my inventionl-reier' to the metal melts and drops on to the end of the 55 bond whereit is to .join the rail, which will b/e' in the Zone of flame impinvfernent. l then momentarily remove the iame until the metal thus melted and applied cools slightly. I then repeat the above operation, building 6o out step by step the extension indicated at B. By this process a homogeneous connection is eiliected between the bond B and the rail A, the metal where it drops unifying instantly with the metal of the bond and the.

rail. l avoidbthe danger of burning the metal because that part of the Haine which impinges againdt the rail and bond is of a lower temperature than that projecting against. the rod being melted. By removing the flame mo mentarily, the melted portion is. allowed to cool slightly and become unified with the Atwo parts A and B. These steps may be repeated until a sufficient extension B has been built up. This method may be followed or the building up of the extension may be commenced at the outer end thereof. lVei-e the bond B originally oi' the shape indicated in Fig. l, and were an attempt made to fuse the metals together, the application oi' heat to the outside would necessarily be oi such intensity, or would have te be continued for such a time, in order to secure the necessary heat at the under side, that the Se metal would become burned and thereby seriously impaired ii not completely de-A stroyed. By my method, burning is avoided and a construction is afforded in which the bond is as permanently united as though it 9o were. integral with the rail end. 'lhe saine process is repeated, oi course, in producing A the connection at the opposite end From the foregoing it will be seen that mv process and construction diiier from all othersin that heretofore reliance has been placed solely uponeither a mechanical con- 'nection or a mechanical adhesion, the latter being brought about ordinarily by a suitable flux asin the well known soldering process.

inthe, drawings l have shown thebond ends B asilled up to give a proper iinish. Obviously, this is innnaterial, The .heat of the flame employed is suiiicient at one time at least to melt the metals oi the members 105 to be united, as 'well as the bond. `The heat ,available in thc case el an oxyacetylene Yfianrel is `appreni-mately 3000c C.

luniting together of the metal :it

be extended to any d It should be understood of eourse thetthe bond may be of the shape indicated in Figs. x

1 and 2, in which the ends B BL are integra-l with the peit B; or, in feet, of any other shape. Such e bond would constitute a homogeneous connection, v formed by the the hond ends, applying the Hanne until the end of the bond commences to flow and become unified with the heeied underlying:r portion of the rail. In this event :i separate rod need not he provided to supply the necessary molten metal, and in this event it will, of course, he understood the center of the hond ends would not he unified with the rail, the unity.

ing occurring at the sides and at the extreme end.l The area of unification nifty of course esired-degree, by either -flowing the met-nl by thev Heine or hy adding molten metal from e separate rod, in si. inanner previously described.

s what i @imi 15; I l. The method of connecting bonds to g rails or the like, comprising, first-heating short of the melting point.; sedond, increasing the temperature of the bond until .e portion of the metal et theedge thereof melts and becomes unified 'with the adjacent inetel y portion thereof melts end becomes unified with the heated portion of the other part.

EUGENE M. BOURNONVILLE.

i W'tnesses:

i R. C. MITCHELL,

LANGDON Moons. l

the inetal'of the bond and the rail to e. point 25 of the rail to foi'in a homogeneous connection.

l the tempera-ture of one of seid parts until :i 35 

